Skip Overnight Oats And Make A 3-Ingredient Oatmeal Breakfast Bar Instead

Overnight oats may be an easy recipe for a convenient breakfast, but converting them into a breakfast bar makes it a grab-and-go choice that keeps a satisfying texture for longer. Fortunately, switching the end result of your favorite recipe is easy and only requires about 15 minutes in a 350-degree Fahrenheit oven.

Overnight oats use a simple ratio of about one part grains to one part liquid. This is also true of breakfast bars, which need enough moisture and fat to bind your ingredients together. However, for bars, you want to substitute most of the milk, water, or yogurt with stickier substances like pureed fruits and other, more solid ingredients that don't need quite as much time to soak into the grains. Nut butters, in particular, are especially good choices because their flavors only deepen when exposed to dry heat. Still, even some mashed banana is a solid choice, being just thick enough to hold your bars' shapes while adding some nice, caramelized sugar taste.

The final, finishing ingredient is where you can get a bit creative. Dehydrated fruits, added nuts, or even some chocolate chips are all great, provided you chop them small enough. If you leave them too large, they'll be difficult to bite into and may not cook as thoroughly as your other choices. If you use high-moisture fruits like strawberries, just be sure to add a teaspoon of cornstarch per cup of fruit to ensure the moisture sets up properly and doesn't make your bars grow soggy.

Trading the creaminess of overnight oats for the toastiness of a breakfast bar doesn't mean you have to sacrifice taste. A few extra substitutions and tweaks can yield similar flavor profiles while still keeping your conversions easy and straightforward.

Just like giving your oatmeal a creamy upgrade with a trip to the coffee bar, you can use the same ingredients in your breakfast bars. Creamers tend to have more dairy taste than traditional milks or milk substitutes, and since you can't use quite as much liquid in bars as you would overnight oats, they're a great way to include plenty of flavor without ruining their texture. Just give your grain a splash, a stir, and a soak to ensure no extra moisture remains on the surface before adding in your other ingredients. This is also a great way to guarantee the final product has a chewy, rather than crunchy, texture.

Toasting your oatmeal deepens its flavor, but also removes any residual moisture, making it more absorbent. This means you can use even more liquid without ruining the integrity of your bars, bumping up flavor while maintaining the right amount of chew. This is especially important if you lean on liquid ingredients for seasoning, like using applesauce to make apple-flavored bars. This is also a great opportunity to add other spices, like nutmeg, cinnamon, or cloves, bringing out all their essential oils without using an extra step or dish.